Each time, the block has been in response to political videos. In the case of the most recent block, the videos were said to have insulted Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, founder of modern Turkey; insulting Ataturk is a crime, as is "insulting Turkishness" under the controversial Article 301 of Turkey's penal code.

Turkey is not the only country to block YouTube. According to Rob Faris, Research Director of the Berkman Center, the site has been blocked in various countries over the past two years, including Armenia, Brazil, Burma, China, Indonesia, Iran, Morocco, Pakistan, Syria, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates. In the cases of several of the aforementioned countries, the site was inaccessible for only a short time; in others, it remains so.

So while there's nothing unique about a government blocking YouTube, the case of Turkey is different for two reasons: The first is that the government was explicit with users as to why the site was blocked; according to The New Anatolian, visitors to the site are greeted with a message in Turkish and English which reads: "Access to www.youtube.com site has been suspended in accordance with decision no: 2008/55 of T.R. Ankara 12th Criminal Court of Peace." In most other countries, the censorship is more surreptitious, with the government giving little explanation as to the reasons for the block.

What is most unique about this case, however, is what has unfolded over the past month. On August 18, Deborah Ann Dilley of Global Voices Online reported that Turkish bloggers have been protesting the blocks by self-censoring their own sites. According to Dilley, bloggers put up a message reading "Bu siteye eri?im kendi karar?yla engellenmi?tir," which translates roughly into “This site is blocked by [the author's] own choice”. TechCrunch picked up the story, drawing global attention to the protest.

While bloggers were uncertain that the protest would have any effect on the YouTube ban, it was widely reported on Tuesday that the site had been unblocked in Turkey. Turkey's Telecommunications Press Center stated that "Because the content which caused YouTube to be blocked by Ankara's 11th High Criminal Court without any justification was taken off from YouTube, the court decided to permit access to the Web site. YouTube is now online."

As bloggers undoubtedly prepared to rejoice, however, the Telecommunications Press Center rescinded their announcement, stating on their web site that "Several media organs reported that YouTube was accessible from Turkey. These news stories are incorrect and serve to confuse the public. The YouTube Web site was blocked by a court decision and the ban can only be rescinded by another court decision."

Fréderike Geerdink, a Dutch journalist based in Turkey, expressed disappointment in her blog, remarking "Now I see that newspapers have been copying each other’s news without calling anybody in Turkey to just ask if they could access the site again. They would have said: No, youtube is still off-line. And then today’s press anouncement would not have been necessary either: it was officially stated that youtube was still banned."

And yet, news reports reporting YouTube to be unbanned keep coming in; ONI will continue reporting on this story as we learn more about it.

A judgement on some certain events is not agree by all people. Different people based on deverse backgroud definitly would be hold different views. To that upper level citizens who served good education can maintain his own indipendent view at the samen time, they also can receive the differet thought. However, to most of people in less development country such as china, Tailand and so on, maybe these video in Youtobe can poison himself. No matter mention that it is al ture and no makeup, these things divert their attention from his life level to such illustion. Honestly, the ban is unequalde to these people, but I hold a point of view that it is essental to put it force.

I'am a great lover of You Tube. But I live in Turkey and I suffer together with other millions of Tubers. After Tube's banning in Turkey we Tubers can access it through vTunnel and the like. What we can do is watch the available videos. We cannot upload, we cannot comment on , we cannot rate them. I spent a a long time to find a place in the You Tube website where I could air these problems and ask for help. There is none. Please You Tube people, open a corner in your site and listen to our suggestions and griviances. And please do something to help us. Ertan Tarim, Ankara, Turkey